Friday, January 18, 2013

Many years ago, my then mother-in-law loaned meher copy of this book. I hated to give it back and have been hoping to find a copy for myself.

You may not think of describing a cook book as charming but,this one is absolutely that and more.Her teacake recipe is a genteel way of making scrumptiouscookies. But she also tells you how to barbeque a rabbit.Or prepare possum.

Monday, January 07, 2013

What a relief when things turn out better than one'simagination will lead one to fear.

There's one long incision from the middle of her chestto just under her arm. No skin grafts.Two drain tubes that I empty and record the quantitytwice a day.

Surgery started at 1 pm Thursday, lasted almost threehours, spent two hours in recovery and she was backhome before 2 pm Friday. She has refused to take anythingfor pain. Well, I talked her into taking one Motrin whenshe mentioned her lower back was stiff. She arguedabout taking that! She insists that there is only a tinybit of discomfort and I'm not seeing any signs that wouldcontradict that. (Her bottle of Percocet is looking prettygood to me.)

The surgeon said they did not remove all the cancer.The team decided that removing everything surgicallywould make her healing too risky and delay radiation.She has a follow-up visit with the oncologist on Thursdayand the surgeon on Friday. The surgeon is hoping the healingwill be complete in three weeks so radiation can be startedsoon after that.

And, in the meantime, she's still getting herceptin infusionsevery three weeks. Indefinitely. Those are pretty simplecompared to full chemo. One hour, start to finish.

As long as radiation will knock out the rest of the cancer,things look pretty good.

You lovely folks who keep visiting here and offering goodthoughts, prayers and encouragement are very, very muchappreciated. I send big virtual thank-you hugs out to all of you.